CREEDENCE CLEARWATER ... REVISITED?: Stu Cook interviewed (2002)

What's in a name? Well, a lengthy court
case if the name you chose is Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

We'll get to the litigation, but first
let's rewind to Creedence Clearwater Revival, the band which ruled
the singles charts for four phenomenal years from the end of the Sixties.

With songs penned by John Fogerty they
single-handedly invented what was called "swamp rock". It
was a taut, slightly ragged and raw style which had elements of white
country and southern white funk distilled into energetic three-minute
singles.

Fogerty's songs became classics and no
retro radio station today could exist without them: Proud Mary, Bad
Moon Rising, Down on the Corner, Who'll Stop the Rain?, Up Around the
Bend ...

In the United States they clocked up 18
top-40 singles in four years, most of them top 10. In New Zealand
they had 10 in the top 20. CCRevival were a singles band when other
groups were concentrating on albums and so became a fixture on radio, although they still clocked in some classic albums such as Bayou Country.

Formed in California when Fogerty and
his brother Tom were joined by the rhythm section of drummer Doug
Clifford and bassist Stu Cook, they were originally the Blue Velvets,
then when they caught a whiff of Beatles-inspired Brit-pop, the
Golliwogs.

In 1967 they adopted the CCRevival name
and, without ever visiting the bayou, conjured up the feel of warm
swamps, edgy lives and basic rock'n'roll.

CCRevival were blue-collar rock when
others went for Nehru jackets fop.

"It was a natural evolution of
what we were already playing," says Cook, "and what we
liked when we were growing up. When John started bringing forward
more organic sounding original material, it seemed like a natural
progression.

"We never considered how big it
could be. We used to joke that when we got successful we'd be making
$100 a night. Each! We had no idea what becoming successful could
mean or ultimately turn into.

"We certainly made a buck, but not
because we had a great record deal but because we were middle-class
kids. I don't recall any of us just throwing it away.

But what did change was the internal
dynamic of the band. In 1972 Fogerty left for an initially
unspectacular solo career, although it included such classics as
Rockin' All Over the World, Status Quo's unofficial stadium-shaking
anthem.

"When you look at it, it's not
unlike a lot of marriages," says Cook. "We were close and
had a lot of success, but we couldn't keep it together. Unfortunately
we didn't have a mentor to straighten us out when we got off the
path."

Since then, CCRevival songs have
appeared in numerous movies - their Fortunate Son is a staple in
Vietnam-era flicks. The rhythm section of Cook and Clifford played in
bands with the late Doug Sahm, and Cook played with Country Pacific,
which featured a couple of Doobie Brothers. Original CCRevival
guitarist Tom Fogerty died in 1990.

But the Creedence name hit the
headlines - and the courtroom - in 1995 when Cook and Clifford formed
Creedence Clearwater Revisited to play the old songs once more.

John Fogerty (interviewed here) tried to prevent them
using the name - they briefly resorted to Cosmo's Factory, the name
of the classic CCRevival album - but in '95 they won their case.

"John had no choice after that but
to give it away. We had the better hand at the card table. Ultimately
he agreed to participate on a business level, so he goes on with his
business and we go on with ours.

"We don't have any contact with
him unfortunately. We did invite him to join us but, like a lot of
bands, we had an unfortunate break-up."

With former Cars guitarist Elliot
Easton and singer John Tristao, whose style is similar to Tom
Fogerty's, the CCRevisited line-up made an immediate impact and,
somewhat surprisingly, gained the respect of critics for the energy
and faithfulness of their shows.

"People say, 'How can you do this
without John Fogerty?' and Elliot said one night, 'This is
rock'n'roll. There aren't any rules. Whatever chemistry we conjure up
is working. If we're enjoying it, what difference does it make?'

"It was uphill with the critics
initially, but we've held true and never disappointed anybody. And
dragging your butt around the world at our age isn't easy. But we
joke that we get paid to travel and play for nothing."

CCRevisited play no new material but
include 22 CCRevival songs in their set, all the hits and a lengthy
workout of Marvin Gaye's Heard It Through the Grapevine, which was
the cornerstone of the Cosmo's Factory album.

They have also recorded their own
double live disc, aptly entitled Recollection.

"This is a performance project
dedicated to honour and celebrate the music of Creedence Clearwater
Revival.

"There is not a single song we
don't enjoy playing. Every night we try to have fun with the music
and it's contagious. After the initial period we can tell it becomes
of no concern to the audience that it's not the original band.

"It's the original rhythm section,
and the people we've chosen to help us to bring this to the stage are
just magnificent personalities and tremendous talents. People just
forget any reservations they've had and get into it.

"It feels like the original band
because of Cosmo and me, and Elliot is a fantastic guitarist who cut
his teeth on Creedence when he was a kid. John is a big man with a
huge voice and a hard rock'n'roll singer.

"We've added
[multi-instrumentalist] Steve Gunner to help to fill out the sound so
it sounds like a Creedence CD because it has the organ and things
that even the original band didn't present in concert.

"We were a guitar band live, but
most songs had studio sweetening, and Steve helps to bring that
element to the stage."

Cook notes that since 1995 CCRevisited
has played more gigs than the original band and it is the longest
project he has been involved in since CCRevival.

"We play about 80 or 90 shows a
year in the States, Canada, Mexico and South America. Every couple of
years we go to Europe, and we've been to Asia once. We haven't been
down to New Zealand in 30 years so we're looking forward to that."

Cook expects the audience here to be
similar to that which they see everywhere: original fans their age
and the younger generation who heard the music on soundtracks or
classic hits radio.

"Sometimes 50 per cent of the
audience is under 25, which would mean none of them was born when
this music was originally recorded.

"Whoever's there it doesn't
matter, we've never had to refund a ticket through dissatisfaction.
We play every show as if it's the last. What a great job. Doug and I
are 57 years old and we're having the time of our lives."

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